We arrived at night so it was difficult to really see anything on the ride in. When we got to our hotel, Erik & I high fived again cause the hotel we selected was frickin amazing. Holy hi-so - jeesh. Dropped off our bags and popped down to the restaurant for a beer and bite to eat - nice to be able to just charge things to the room. Their pricing includes the tip as well. Works for us. Didn't have a very late night, but we had fun chatting about the adventures in KL and the journey here. Going through customs in Indonesia was a breeze, much quicker than Malaysia. Being at the front of the plane really helps as well cause you get there before everyone else. We intended to just have a lazy beach day the next day, so we had a few beers on the beach before calling it a night. Now, the walk to the beach from the hotel is about 6 meters, so it's right at the end of the super long pool

Next day they had a buffet (as they do every day) to suit everyone's needs. You could get practically whatever you want. We stuck to fruit and a bit of toast and noodles. Their coffee was great as well. They grown their own here in Bali, so we had fresh brewed coffee. Ended up just hanging out on the beach all day and it was great, except I got a bit of a sun burn on my chest, lower arms and legs. Yep, covered the tattoo's and forgot other areas - that's life. Just meant a thin long sleeve shirt the next day. Steve, on the other hand, thought an hour without sun block, then add it and snorkel for several hours would be OK - WRONG! Ooo, he got sun burned and we think he actually got sun stroke cause he developed a fever and was a red as an apple. I think you could say he glowed. I did as well, but not as bright and only a few areas. Went for a banana boat ride and wished I was on the back cause that's where the bumpy ride really took hold. The ocean was quite shallow and when that tide went out you could walk a long ways out and still only be up to your waist. After a full day out on the beach we grabbed dinner at the hotel and had a few cocktails for happy hour. We also met with a tour agent Jim knew and planned a few tours, starting with the next day - a full day. Ended up turning in after a few beers out on the beach. With the full moon shining it was awesome! What a way to end each night

Grabbed some fruit and coffee for breaky, grabbed a bottle of water and headed out for today's festivities. Planned on checking out a museum in Denpasar and then a local market. Angel misinterpreted Jim's request on our behalf and took us to a shopping center (like a Wal-mart/Zellers). After checking out each floor we bailed on that and headed to the local market. Also wanted to check out the gold shops and each purchased a small necklace. Then over to the local market where we were able to grab some masks we had been looking for. Several folks followed us all the way from the gold shop trying to sell their wares. We just ignored most of them and they moved on, but those less experienced chatted them up which was the biggest mistake cause they were bothered much longer. Rule #1 - ignore (as ignorant as that sounds, it's truly the only way). We all bought some stuff for cheap prices and then headed to a local seafood place for late late lunch. It was a scorcher outside. I think around 34 - 36 in the city. A bit cooler by the seaside restaurant though - maybe 30 - 32. Sherry and I had some of the best prawns we've ever had.

The next stop was a big cultural center and we only had a brief amount of time to check it out before heading to watch the Kecak and Fire Dance. We checked out a couple of juge statutes, then started to head down back to meet the others when I was intercepted by a muslim woman. She wanted (so I thought) to take a photo of her and her friend. Wrong....she wanted a photo with me. Then her friends, one at a time, wanted the same thing. Finally brought Steve & Sherry into the mix as well and we must have posed for about 20-23 pictues with different young ladies and a few young fella's. Well this is what it's like being in the lime light

. I've never experienced anything like it. It was essentially a small school of kids checking out the center. As we left, we took a picture of all of them and gave a shout out with which they responded with woohoo's and clapping like we were frickin rock stars heading home - that was weird, weird, weird. Neat though.

Next stop was the Kecak and Fire Dance but before heading into the area, you had to remove all your jewelry, hats and glasses as the monkeys would take them. They left the watches alone, but not necklaces. You could purchase food to feed them, but we got their just in the knick of time. Got our seats and took in the show. It was really quite neat and like nothing I've seen before. They finish the dance prior to the sunset, part of the ritual. There's a story behind the whole dance as well. Basically guy meets girl, then bad guys takes girl, then good guy beats bad guy and gets girl back. You'd need some writing to get that from the whole dance, but it was very cool none the less. The outfits were also something else. Wow...following the dance we headed back to the hotel. We walked down the road a bit for some Indonesian dinner and then grabbed a few beers to hang out on the beach to watch the moon and listen to the waves. Wow, we love this place!!!

We had to checkout the next day and move next door which is an even nicer hotel than the one we were at

. We packed our bags and had them transferred to the next beach cause by the time we had to checkout the following day from our new hotel we would be white water river rafting. We took advantage of this hotel and hung out around the circular pool with little offshoots, some of which had small waterfalls flowing. What another great day. Swam up to the pool bar and sat on the stools in the pool. Then we got a chill so moved into the sun. After a late night the evening before and all the hot sun and water, we went for a small snooze. Went for dinner down the road a bit, then grabbed a couple beverages for the beach night cap. Fun, fun visiting with Erik, Somchai, Jim and Clemens. Steve was fighting a fever so stayed out of the sun. Slept great.

Went for breaky, then got our day pack ready for our white water rafting trip. Man oh man this was tons of fun. We were in zodiacs and our group consisted of Sherry, myself, Clemens, Angel and her 2 kids (7 and 4.5 years old). The river trip itself took about 2 hours and we had 2 small portages. We got soaking wet and loved every minute of it. For the very odd time the river wasn't too fast flowing, we took in the surroundings which were just breathtaking. This is such a beautiful part of the planet. At the end of the trip we had a mere 400 steps to walk up the side of the mountain for lunch. What a day. Angel and the driver brought us back to the Oasis on Kuta beach around 4:00 so we checked in and got ourselves sorted out

. Ended up cancelling our volcano trip (which we going to leave at 01:30 - so 9.5 hours later, little sleep) but the clouds were too heavy. When we got back Sherry & I had a nap, then I went out and walked around to check out the area, get orientated. Had happy hour around 5:30 and Angel came back to firm up the scuba diving trip Steve & Sherry were going to take together. We ended up booking a sail boat day tour as well.

Following happy hour we decided to walk up to Legian beach with Jim and Clemens (about 1 hr, 10 min) and meet up with Erik and Somchai. We alked alongb the beach road and just took everything in. Bali is just done up so beautifully. No large buildings (as in height) and they are just so tastefully done in Indonesian (Asian) style. Found the spot the guys had described, but it was closed so went next door and grabbed dinner there. It was another great meal - an Indonesian dish and Sherry had prawns. Num Num...stayed for a few beers there, then decided to take a cab back instead of walking. We had a couple night caps out by the pool, then headed in for the night. Guys went out to meet Jim at a different bar. Slept like a baby which was surprising cause there were a few folks out partying. Thank goodness we had a few beers - that made sleeping a bit easier.

Next day was a shopping for family and friends day and let's pamper ourselves day

. Basically did that for a good chunk of the day. Actually had some fast food which we seldom eat over here. The too many beer the night before meal. Got a bunch of souveniers and decided to get our hair trimmed and pedicures. Only $6.50 for hair trim and $7.00 for an hour long pedicure. Going for a foot and neck & should massage tomorrow while Sherry's scuba diving. We ended up running into Clemens and decided it was time for supper. Following dinner we decided to go visit the monument the Indonesians built for the victims of the terrorist bombing back in 2002. Two Canadian perished, but mostly Australians and Indonesians. Also saw the vacant lot where the largest bomb went off (across the street). Following that we grabbed a coffee from Starbucks, found our duvet covers we'd been looking for, had them put aside and headed back to the hotel. We were both tired from the constant on the go, so watched a bit of TV when we got back and slept well.

Found a Starbucks the evening before so decided to update the blog with text only cause the internet speed is very slow. Sherry is scuba diving so will provide an update either in 3-4 days or when we reach Singapore. Trying to see if we can get tickets to see The Police in concert while we're there. Until next time.....peace everyone!!